Headings, Harold - Woodland Kennels

Headings’ property consists of three kennel areas. The main kennel area had about a dozen pens, each five feet wide and 20 feet long, with three foot tall chain link walls. This area had a slanted metal roof raised about six feet above the kennels and was supported by untreated wooden beams. Between each pen was a piece of metal siding about a foot tall that ran the length of the pens. Also, each pen contained a single plastic dog house, a water dish, and a self-feeder attached to the chain-link walling near the doorway.

The water dishes were thick with green algae (3.11(b)(1)-Sanitization), and the feeders had standing water and very water-saturated food (3.9(b)-Feeding). Half of the pens closest to the house on the property each contained three full grown Corgis, while the other half each contained three full grown West Highland Terriers.

All of the dogs had blooding ear tips with flies swarming over the wounds (2.40-Vet Care) (3.11(d)-Pest Control). Some of the West Highland Terriers seemed to actually have chunks of their ears missing from the wounds. This seems indicative of insect bites that have caused the dogs to scratch, which attracts flies and causes an infection the dogs scratch at further.

Many of the dogs in the runs appeared wet. Since most of the dogs in a single pen did not seem to be able to fit into a dog house without lying on top of one another (3.6(a)(2)(xi)-Primary enclosures), it seems that dogs would get wet from rain. Also, I noticed a water spigot with a red handle in the ground. It was near the middle of the row of cages with a water hose attached to it. This indicated water is used to clean the pens. Since the dogs are unlikely to all fit into a dog house at once, the dogs would get wet during the cleaning of the pens (3.11(a)-Cleaning).

Near the pens described above was an enclosure about two feet deep, three feet tall, and four feet long. It was made with treated wire walls and flooring, wooden beams for the corners and edges, and a slanted plastic roof. Inside were about three 10-week-old West Highland Terriers. There was a plastic water and food dish on the wire flooring of the cage. The food dish was not placed so as to minimize contamination by excrement (3.9(b)-Feeding). Below the cage was a pile of feces with flies swarming over it (3.11(a)-Cleaning) (3.11(d)-Pest Control).

About 10 pens were next to a single story white barn with a peaked metal white roof. The pens had doggy doors extending inside the barn and ran 30 feet long and about three feet wide. They had concrete floors and three-foot high chain link walls. Chain link doors were at the ends of the pens away from the barn. Outside was a concrete gutter. A water hose was near the pens. Also near the pens was a wheel barrel full of about 40 pounds of feces with swarming flies (3.11(c)-Housekeeping for premises).

Most of the pens contained two to three full grown Yorkshire Terriers. The one closest to the pens described in the first paragraph contained two Beagle puppies, a Corgi puppy, and a West Highland puppy. All appeared to be about three to four months of age. The concrete flooring of all of the pens was wet (3.11(a)-Cleaning).

The part of the barn closest to the pens described in the above paragraph was an enclosed room used as a dog kennel and whelping building. The room is about 10 feet wide and forty feet long. The dogs in the 10 pens described above had treated wire cages with PVC piping used for the edges. These pens were accessible through the doggy doors at the wall they were built against. Three of the pens were in a room about five feet long and wide. This room had shelves, a refrigerator, and cleaning supplies.

Against the opposite wall from these cages in the whelping room were about 20 wire cages in two levels. The bottom cages were about two feet above the ground, and the top cages were about six inches above the bottom ones. Each cage was about three feet long, two feet tall, and two feet deep and made of treated wire. The top cages had a plastic liner below them for catching feces and urine; the bottom cages had nothing below them.

There were Yorkshire Terriers, West Highland Terriers, and Corgi adults and puppies in the cages, including one adult West Highland Terrier that was lying in the corner of its cage breathing shallowly and not moving. The dog had a carpet mat smeared with feces in its cage, its anus was packed with dried feces, and halfway up the dog’s abdomen on its right side, the dog had a large amount of feces smeared in its fur (2.40-Vet Care). One pen in front of a floor drain contained four Corgi puppies, each about four to six pounds in weight. This pen had a pile of feces about two feet long, one foot wide, and two inches high piled underneath it (3.11(a)-Cleaning).

Though the flooring of the whelping building is concrete, plastic sheeting was on the ground under the bottom cages. It extended three feet from the wall. This white sheeting was stained brown on most of its surface area; it was obviously not thoroughly cleaned (3.11(b)(1)-Sanitization). The cages had black plastic water bowls and metal self-feeders filled beyond their brims with food. The feeders were about eight inches tall, three inches deep and six inches wide. They contained more food than the puppies of any cage could eat in a day (3.9(a)-Feeding). Some cages contained ceramic and metal bowls of food placed on the cage flooring. Some puppies were standing in these bowls. The bowls were also completely filled (3.9(a)-Feeding), and were not placed so as to minimize contamination by excreta (3.9(b)-Feeding).

About six full grown Corgis loose on the property had large bloody sores on their ears; flies were swarming over the sores (2.40-Vet Care) (3.11(d)-Pest Control). The Corgis had a black, plastic food dish inside the chain link wire gate at the back of the house. The food dish was filled with standing water and waterlogged food (3.9(b)-Feeding).

The Headings facility has very serious violations for improper feeding, watering, pest control, cleaning and sanitization, housekeeping for premises, primary enclosures and veterinary care (the condition of the visibly sick Westie was alarming). Yet, Chad Moore, during his 2/26/03 inspection found just one non-compliance, a 3.11(b)(2) for multiple food and water dishes that were no longer able to be sanitized due to their chewed and scratched condition. He noted that several of these dishes were visibly dirty. The violations uncovered by CAPS don’t just happen in a short period of time. It is likely that many of these conditions were present during Mr. Moore’s inspection.